The Scientist
by XxBrendaMichelexX
Summary: "I have to protect the one thing I can't live without. And that's you." (set in the Iron Man cinematic universe; they didn't have a category for it)
1. Chapter 1

**(Author's Note: Welcome to my very first Iron Man fanfiction! I was inspired to write one because I love Iron Man, and Robert Downey Jr. is the hottest thing since the oven, so I hope you like it! If you have any comments/questions/suggestions, leave a review!)**

**Also, regarding the title, I named it after the cover song by Willie Nelson. You should check it out if you haven't heard it! (It's on the soundtrack for The Judge) ;)**

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Chapter 1

"You have to go to the dinner Tony."

"Can't we just say I was there in spirit?"

Tony Stark smirked at his assistant Pepper Potts, and as he stood up she hit him lightly on the head with her clipboard.

"Ow," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"You have to go," said Pepper as she left the room.

The blonde was right. Tonight was the dinner celebrating Stark Industries' new interactive science program for college students in the New York area. Tony had just announced it via press conference, and tonight was pretty much considered a press dinner. Journalists would be nipping at his ankles to get the background on the StarkTech program and his "vision for the future of today's youth". But the truth was, Tony didn't feel like explaining anything today or bullshitting a vision he was supposed to have.

"I should have people for that," he murmured to himself. He entered his bathroom and slicked his hair back with gel as he looked in the mirror.

"JARVIS, what color suit do I look best in? I'm thinking gray for tonight."

"I have a gray suit for you in your closet, sir."

"Thank you JARVIS."

Tony grabbed the gray suit hanging in the front of his closet and put it on, looking at himself in the mirror.

"How do I look? Does this suit make me look fat?"

"You look dashing, sir."

"Tell Happy to pull the car up," Tony commanded as he left the room. He slipped on a pair of sunglasses and winked at Pepper as he went downstairs.

"Be polite," she reminded him.

"Yes ma'am," Tony replied sarcastically.

There were many more people at the dinner than Tony had anticipated. He had to squeeze his way through several conversations just to get to the minibar. He was sure Happy had been with him a moment ago, but he had lost him in the crowd. A few journalists had already spotted him and were coming his way like a swarm of bees to a flower.

"Mr. Stark, what do you hope for StarkTech to do for the young people?"

"Mr. Stark, are you going to take StarkTech to high schools?"

"Mr. Stark, what inspired you to create this program?"

Tony turned around and held a finger up, backing away from the people invading his personal space.

"Okay one minute please," he said. "Just let me get a beer. Then we'll talk." He turned back to the minibar and the bartender handed him a beer. Tony took a gulp of it and turned back to the journalists. "Um…okay I hope it teaches them how to be a badass like me; it's just a college program right now; and it dawned on me that I need to pass on my legacy before I die, so that was the inspiration. Did that answer everybody's questions? Good, see ya." He pushed his way through the crowd of journalists furiously scribbling on their notepads and made his way to his reserved table, where he found Happy.

"There you are," said Happy. "I lost you in there."

"You gotta get on the ball Happy; what if I got punched in the face? You wouldn't have been there. Shape up your skills," Tony said, giving him a hard time. Happy just smirked. "Where's Pepper?"

"I don't know; I don't think she came."

"What? She didn't come? But she has to; she made me!" Happy shrugged, and Tony took another long drink of his beer. "Women, you know?"

Just then, another journalist with a video camera approached Tony's table.

"Mr. Stark, explain for me the StarkTech goal," she said.

"To create a better future," Tony replied, knowing that was a bullshit answer. But she seemed happy with it. A crowd of people began to form around the table.

"Are you using your own technology for this program?" someone yelled out.

"Yep," Tony answered. "No better way to learn it than to use it. The whole purpose of StarkTech is to cultivate knowledge of the technology I've created, so that we can raise a new generation of kids that can maintain the progress of arc reactor technology. All those college students in the StarkTech program are like little Tonys. And don't worry, I'm not giving a bunch of kids Iron Man suits—well, not yet anyway—the program is just about the science. The world will be a better place. Now; if everyone will excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom."

Happy stood up and blocked the people as Tony made his way to the bathroom. As soon as he made it to the doorway, a flash of light blinded him and he was taken aback.

"Yes! It worked," said a female voice. Tony shook his head and regained his vision. In front of him stood a stunningly beautiful woman.

She wore a tight white dress, and long red curls fell down her shoulders. She smiled at him and looked down at her camera.

"Well that was surprising. What worked?" Tony asked.

"I thought if I hung out by the bathrooms, you'd have to go sooner or later and I could snap a picture of you. I'm a photographer," she replied. "I got a good one." Tony raised his eyebrows.

"I see."

"You can go pee now; don't let me distract ya." Tony nodded and proceeded into the men's bathroom. When he came out and began to walk back to his table, he heard another click of a camera behind him.

"You have a nice ass," said the woman. Tony raised his eyebrows and spun around on his heels to walk back over to her.

"Do I?" he said, smiling.

"Yeah," she said. "I took a picture of it. My name is Lillian, by the way."

"You know who I am."

"Yes I do." Lillian smiled at him and Tony looked her up and down.

"I like your legs," he said, moving closer to her.

"Thanks," she replied. "I just shaved them this morning." She inched closer to him until their faces almost touched.

Tony went for it. He kissed her and she put her hands on his face and kissed him back. He felt an overwhelming attraction to her. He put his hands on her waist and moved them up and down her back.

"Wow you're hot," she said between kisses.

…

Tony led Lillian to his bedroom and threw her down on the bed. She unzipped her dress and slipped it off. Tony crawled on the bed with her and took off his shirt as Lillian got on top of him.

"Oh my God," she said, suddenly.

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"What is that?!" Lillian pointed to the arc reactor.

"That keeps me alive. It lights up. I'm Iron Man; I need it."

"Oh my God are you a robot?"

"No, I just have shrapnel trying to get in my heart and kill me; so to prevent that from happening, I have this." Lillian's hands covered her mouth as she looked at him, amazed.

"I can't fuck you; you might die!" she exclaimed. Tony chuckled.

"No you won't, I'm perfectly functional. I just have to have it. Come on. Do me."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty intense. I might burn it out."

"Well we won't find out unless we test the theory."

"Okay," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

The next morning, Tony woke up alone and naked. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room, noticing that Lillian's dress was still in the floor. That meant she couldn't have left.

So where was she?

"JARVIS," Tony called, getting up and putting on some underwear and pants. "Where's Lillian?"

"If you are referring to the female you brought home last night sir, she is in your work room."

"Oh shit, is she messing with anything?"

"She is merely admiring your inventions sir."

Tony slipped on a Metallica t-shirt and made his way into his work room. He found Lillian as JARVIS said. She was wearing his shirt from last night and she stood in front of Mark 7. She looked at him as he came in.

"You have some nice toys," she said. "Oh and I stole your shirt."

"That's okay, I have others. You want some breakfast or something?" Tony felt a little awkward; he didn't usually see the girls he'd slept with last night the next morning. Usually he woke up before them.

"No it's okay; I don't eat in the mornings." Lillian took a few pictures of Tony's workroom.

"So what are you a photographer for? A magazine?" he asked.

"Forbes usually," she replied. "But I just like taking pictures. It's like an art to me."

"What do you take pictures of?" He stood next to her.

"Anything I find interesting. Ooh, that reminds me! Take off your shirt, I wanna get a picture of your life circle."

"It's actually called the arc reactor," Tony said, taking off his shirt.

"That's even cooler," she said, snapping a picture of his chest. "Can I touch it?"

"Yeah."

Lillian poked Tony's chest and looked up at him.

"Do you feel it?"

"Not on the surface of where you touch it, but I feel the pressure of being touched."

"That is so cool! I want one!" Tony couldn't help but smile at her. She was so smiley and full of life, and vibrant. He had never met anyone like that before.

"Oh my gosh, you know what; I'm just sitting around her lingering at your fancy house. I'm rude, huh? I should go. Thanks for being my sexy partner." She poked his chest again and smiled at him. Tony decided he liked her. She was definitely hot, but even more than that. She was funny and unique. Something about her; he almost didn't want her to leave.

"No problem; anytime," he replied. "You can keep the shirt." Lillian giggled as she left the room, but didn't make it out the door without bumping into Pepper.

"Oh," said Pepper, startled. She apologized and Lillian smiled graciously at her as she left. Tony smirked at his assistant when she gave him a disapproving look.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Pepper replied. "I was just going to tell you that I have meetings all day today so I won't be able to be reached until two o'clock this afternoon."

"Okay, no biggie," Tony said. "But if I need you before then I'm busting into your meetings." Pepper chuckled.

"If you need someone you can call Happy. And uh…what was that?"

"What was what?"

"Don't you usually send those girls on their way before seven?"

"Yeah well, she woke up before me and we were talking, and…" he trailed off.

"Like this one, do you?" Pepper asked with a smile. Tony raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"Don't you have a meeting to go to?"


	2. Chapter 2

**(Author's Note: FINALLY the next chapter! I'm sorry guys, you all have been troopers. This won't happen for every update, I promise. I just..when I published this story it probably wasn't a good time to start a new one because I was so busy, but I'm getting back on the wagon! Enjoy this chapter and leave a review if you wish! :))**

**DISCLAIMER: That phone number (mentioned in this chapter as Lillian's) is not real, and neither is the email address. So don't try to contact anyone through those. Plus if you do that would be kind of sad because hopefully you have better things to do than try out emails and phone numbers you read in a fanfiction. Just sayin.**

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Tony worked nonstop for the next couple of days. He was trying to get the Iron Man suit to fly without him in it by tinkering with some new programming. He was by himself most of the time. Pepper had many meetings to go to for the launch of StarkTech, and Happy had been hiring "security". But Tony didn't mind. All he needed was AC/DC and JARVIS to converse with.

Tony thought of the girl he met at the dinner a few times. He didn't normally think of his one-night stands at all after they left, but for some reason this one was different. She had such personality when he met her; he found himself wanting to get to know her more. As the days went on, he decided to get some information.

"Hey JARVIS," Tony said. "That girl that was here a few days ago, Lillian; look her up for me."

"Yes sir," JARVIS replied. Within seconds, documents and photos began flooding a screen in front of Tony. "Her full name is Lillian Martha James, and she is currently employed at Forbes magazine. Birthday: April 22nd, 1989; blood type: A positive."

"Contact information?"

"Phone number: 212-6**-7***. Email address: lillymartha . Her home address is protected, but I can get through if you wish, sir."

"That's fine, thanks JARVIS. What's her schedule?"

"She works weekdays from nine to three, and most of her afternoons are spent with her personal photography that she posts on her website: PhotosByLillian. Would you like me to save this information so you may contact her later?"

"Yes please," Tony replied.

Just then, Pepper entered the room. Tony tried to quickly dissolve the screen in front of him. Pepper raised her eyebrows.

"Oh my God Tony, are you spying on that girl?" she asked.

"Not spying," Tony said. "Studying." Pepper chuckled.

"Ask her to get coffee," she said. "Girls love coffee."

"I've got it all planned out," Tony said. Pepper smiled, still laughing at him.

"Let me know," she said, as she picked some papers up from a table and left the room.

"Sir," piped JARVIS, "there are some children on your doorstep."

"Got it," Tony replied. He put the Iron Man suit on and headed for the door.

Kids would come to his house all the time; they were fans of Iron Man and somehow they found out where he lived. They would bring photos for him to sign and ask to get a picture with him. He gladly obliged; Tony liked the praise he received from children. It only took a moment to create a memory for a kid that would brighten their whole life, so why not take the opportunity?

Tony trotted downstairs and retracted the face of his mask as he turned the doorknob. When he opened the door, three smiling children looked up at him, accompanied by a scrawny woman with messy faded brown hair that looked to be their mother. Two of the children were boys, who looked to be twins about the age of 8. They had faded brown hair like their mother, and freckles on their cheeks. The third child was a small blonde-haired blue-eyed girl who appeared about five.

"Hey guys," Tony said, "What's up?"

"Can the boys get a picture with you?" asked the mother.

"Sure," Tony said. He smiled for a picture with the twin boys and the one on the left turned to face him.

"Do you get scared when you fight bad guys?" he asked.

"Nope," Tony said, his chin up. "I never get scared. I'm Iron Man. But I'll tell you something; the Hulk gets scared."

"Really?" the kid laughed.

"Yep. He's a big wimp. But it just goes to show you; wimps can be heroes too." The children laughed and when they were about to leave, the little girl turned to him.

"Iron Man, we…we have to get married," she said with a sparkle in her eye.

"Sure thing sweetheart," Tony said. "I'll be there at the wedding." The little girl smiled and her mother led her away, waving at Tony and thanking him. He smiled back at them and shut the door.

"I love my job," he said to himself.

"Well done sir," piped JARVIS.

…

The next day, Tony woke up with the image of the gorgeous redhead in his mind and decided he'd had enough. He had to see her again.

"Ugh this is annoying," he said to himself as he rolled out of bed. He looked at himself in the mirror. "Lookin' good Tony, as always. I woke up like this." He brushed his teeth and gelled his hair and smiled into the mirror. "Kill 'em." He had to give himself some words of motivation for the day; rather, he liked to.

When Tony entered the work room he called on JARVIS.

"Call Lillian for me," he said. "On speakerphone."

"Yes sir," JARVIS replied, and the dial tone sounded. Tony positioned himself in front of the supercomputer's microphone.

The phone rang for a while, but as soon as Tony was about to hang up, Lillian answered.

"Photos By Lillian, may I help you?" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Hey Lillian," Tony greeted her with confidence. "Tony Stark, remember me?"

"Well yeah, it's only been a couple days!" she said enthusiastically. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd uh, like to get coffee with me this morning. If you're not busy."

"I'm not busy. But how about barbeque? Do you like barbeque? I love barbeque, and Homer's has the best barbeque, and ooh, you can get a breakfast discount because who eats barbeque for breakfast? Except me, I do." Tony chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he said. "In an hour?"

"Hell yeah," Lillian replied.

After Tony hung up he smiled to himself.

"Always suave," he said, straightening his imaginary tie.

Tony put on his best suit because he wanted to look good for Lillian; she'd probably look like a model and it would be a damn shame if he didn't appear worthy of such. Although, he usually did, so there wasn't much to worry about.

Tony found that Homer's Barbeque was right next to Central Park, which was nice for the view. As soon as he got out of his car, he saw Lillian approaching the door to the restaurant as well. She was wearing a casual red dress that flattered her figure (but what didn't) and her long curly hair was draped over her shoulders. When she turned around after entering she saw him. She held the door open and grinned at him.

"Hi breakfast buddy! Ooh, you look fancy. Good thing I brought my camera." Tony smiled at her.

"You look good too," he said, entering after her.

"Thank you for the appreciation," she replied. "It took like two hours this morning."

"Hey Lillian!" yelled the man behind the ordering counter.

"Hey Desmond!" Lillian replied. She leaned in to Tony. "I'm a regular over here."

They sat at a booth next to the window overlooking Central Park. Lillian had asked for her usual, and Tony said he'd have the same thing. He honestly had never had barbeque before, but he was open-minded to the place because Lillian seemed to love it.

"Oh, look at all the cute little squirrels outside!" she exclaimed. "I wish they could be pets. I'd keep it in my cupboards so it could hand me the plates." She giggled and Tony smiled.

"So, tell me about yourself," he said. "Just who is the wonder of Lillian?" She smiled and put her hands together.

"Well if you must know," she said humorously. "I…well I don't know what to tell ya. I like barbeque, first off. I also like animals, and Oprah, and men. I can shred on electric guitar too. How about you? Who is Tony Stark, besides Iron Man?"

"Woah, you can play electric guitar?" Tony asked.

"Hells yeah man. I love 80's rock bands, so I wanted to learn. I'll play for you some time. But now you have to answer my question."

"Alright, well I like rock bands too, I like technology, I like money. I also enjoy alcohol."

"You and me are two peas in a pod," said Lillian. "Me too with all those things."

Suddenly, she leaned over to him and held out her phone.

"Selfie!" she exclaimed. Tony posed his sexy face really quick. Lillian looked at the picture. "Ooh, good one. That's going on Twitter." Tony laughed.

"So your hair," he said. "Is it real?"

"Come on," Lillian replied with a smirk. "Of course it is; you can't find this color in a bottle. I've always liked it though."

"I think it's beautiful," Tony replied.

"So you must like me, huh?" Lillian smiled. "Calling me, asking me to get coffee and all; wearing a nice suit to a barbeque shack." Tony smiled back and shrugged.

"The ladies just come to me," he said. "I knew you'd want more; I couldn't just leave you hanging." Lillian chuckled.

"Sure," she said. "Well I like you too, and I like your little chest flashlight. Hey, do you think sometime I can take pictures of you in your Iron Man suit?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Tony Stark never turns down a photo-op." Lillian laughed and her purse dinged suddenly.

"Oh," she said, pulling her phone from her purse. "I got a text."

"Who from?" Tony asked.

"Oh, just my mom. My dad is getting his first treatment today, so I guess she's keeping me posted, as if she cares."

"Is he sick?"

"Yeah…he just got diagnosed with advanced lung cancer," Lillian replied rather solemnly. Tony could venture to guess that she was close with her father. "It's just my luck too, that my dad would be the one. And my bitch mom would be fine." Tony didn't want to pry into her personal life, so he didn't ask about her mom.

"For me it was the opposite," he said. "My mom was the one I cared about, and I was stuck with my dad, who hated me pretty much. He's dead now though."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Lillian. "But he didn't hate you probably; he left you his whole business. To trust you with that must have meant a lot to him." Tony just sighed.

"Maybe."

When the meals came, Tony found that he liked barbeque. Lillian was ecstatic.

"I knew you'd like it!" she said. "It would have been kind of awkward if you didn't." Tony smiled.

The two of them left the restaurant and stood on the street in front of their parallel-parked cars. Tony looked at her; she looked back at him.

"So uh, this was really nice," he said.

"Yeah," Lillian replied. "Breakfast barbeque is always fun." Tony did not know why he felt so awkward all of the sudden as he looked into her eyes. He never felt like that. Lillian smirked and leaned into him a little.

"You gonna kiss me or what?" she said softly. Tony gladly accepted the invitation and put his hand on the back of her neck as he kissed her. This was different than the way they had kissed before. This one had…feelings.

_Damn it…_ he thought to himself as he watched her leave. _She is so cool._


	3. Chapter 3

**(Author's Note: I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON THIS STORY GUYS I PROMISE. It's my senior year, it's been crazy, but I'm still writing. I am so sorry about how long it's been, but nevertheless, Happy Christma-Hannu-Kwanzaa-Ka! (If you get that reference, I love you.) Also, enjoy, and please review! What do you want to see next?)**

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"_We have a holdup at the Empire State. The NYPD is looking into the problem and the location of the bomber is unknown at this time. If you or a family member is near the Empire State Building, we strongly advise you to get out as fast as possible, if you can. Lock all your doors and take cover if you live in the area."_

As soon as Tony heard the police warning, he rushed into his work room and let his Iron Man suit form around his body.

_Funny how the police think they can handle a bomber,_ he thought as he flew out of his open window. He spotted the top of the Empire State building and as he got closer to it he could see the mass of police and their cars, along with some civilians. Tony decided he would enter through the top window. In a perfect world, it would have been open, but it was not a perfect world, so he had to smash through it and pay for the damages. Still, it was easier than going through the actual entrance and having to deal with the crowds and the cocky "I can do it" police.

Once he had smashed into the building, he scanned the area looking for the criminal.

"Tell me if you see anybody JARVIS," commanded Tony.

"There are several people on the first few floors and one on the 39th, sir. It is probable that that is the criminal."

_Why does this thing have so many floors_, thought Tony as he cleared as many as he could as fast as possible. The Empire State Building had 102 floors and he had to get to the 39th. He decided the fastest way would be to fly down the elevator shaft. He blasted through the bottom of the elevator and started his way down.

"Tell me when I get there," Tony said to JARVIS.

"Yes sir."

When Tony reached the 39th floor, he saw a man in a black trench coat and a lime green beanie hunched over messing with a machine that he knew was the bomb.

"Hey man," said Tony, extending his right hand toward the man. "Hand it over."

"Aw shit, you're too late Iron Man!" said the man. Tony could tell he had some mental issues. "I'm honored though, that you'd come for me. Well, you've got thirty seconds to get far away from here, so I suggest you blast. Me, I'm going out. Thanks for showing up to my funeral."

With that, the man ran toward the window, and though Tony tried to catch him; the man jumped before he could. He didn't have a second to gather his thoughts before he turned back to the bomb. He had 20 seconds.

"JARVIS, how do I disarm this? Run it through your database, and _hurry_ because I might die in 20 seconds!"

"Scanning sir…"

"10 seconds!"

"Cut the red wire, sir."

"There are three red wires, JARVIS!" There were 5 seconds left.

"Cut all three, sir." Tony immediately used his suit to cut the three red wires in the last two seconds, and when the bomb was finally disarmed, Tony fell backward onto the floor and breathed a sigh of relief. He lied there for a while.

"Fuck," he said.

"Sir, I would advise you to tell the authorities that the bomb has been disarmed," suggested JARVIS. Tony sighed again and stood up.

"You're right," he replied.

He took off flying through the window the criminal had jumped through and told himself not to look down, knowing he would see the man and probably half of his insides spilling out. Several people in the crowd pointed up to him and cheered, grabbing at him as he landed in the middle of the horde of policemen.

"O Captain My Captain," he said, trying to get the chief officer's attention. He looked at Tony.

"Iron Man!" said the officer.

"Nice to meet ya. The bomb has been disarmed so we're good, but the guy jumped out the window, so he's either dead over there, or he is not there and somehow escaped, and if that is the case he was wearing a black trench coat and a green beanie and he looked kind of like Sir Mix-A-Lot." He patted the officer's shoulder. "Good luck."

He turned around and right before he was about to speed up into the sky, he was temporarily blinded by a bright white light.

"Oh my God you're awesome!" said a familiar woman. He felt her wrap her arms around his midsection and he looked down once his eyesight had cleared and saw Lillian.

"You are so cool!" she said. "You just saved lots of people! Oh my God, I hope I got a good picture." He smiled to himself and grabbed her waist as he reformed his mask around his face and took off upward at full speed. Lillian screamed and clung onto him.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" she screeched.

"Don't worry, I've got you," he said. He looked down at her. Her eyes were closed tightly and her wild auburn hair blew all around her face as he flew. He flew into his house into his workroom from the top window that he kept open for entrances and exits like this. He let go of Lillian and she fell on the floor.

"I'm gonna throw up," she said. "I'm gonna throw up all over your technology." Tony let his machinery retract his Iron Man suit and he walked over to Lillian. He smiled at her. She put her hands over her face.

"Why did you do that? I wasn't ready! That was scary." She curled up into a ball and turned over onto her side. "I'm gonna lay here until I die." Tony chuckled.

"What were you doing at the Empire State?" he asked her.

"Taking pictures," Lillian replied, taking her hands off of her face. She sat up. "I think I got a good picture of you." She looked down at her camera and began surfing through pictures.

"That was dangerous," said Tony. "There was a bomb."

"Well I was just going to take a couple and then leave, but then that guy jumped out of the window and you came, and…yeah." Tony helped her up off of the floor. "I gotta get pictures of important events because if I get really great ones, journals and newspapers buy them. I need to make that money somehow."

"You could've gotten hurt."

"Look at you, caring about me!" said Lillian with a smirk. She took a picture of him.

"Well if you want to put an adjective on it…"

"Hey! So tell me what happened up there and how you disarmed the bomb." Lillian grabbed his hand and sat back down on the floor, dragging him down with her. "And be as boastful as you want, I love it."

…

That night, Tony had said goodbye to Lillian because she had to go take pictures at Times Square. He smiled as she left. She was so fun to be around, even if they weren't doing anything. Pepper made fun of him.

"Are you keeping this one?" she asked him. "You know you have to take care of it."

"Laugh all you want," said Tony. "I may surprise you." Pepper snickered.

"I feel bad for her."

"Be careful Ms. Potts," said Tony jokingly. "I'm paying you."

Later that night, Tony sat up and thought of how he would construct his next suit. He was always doing this; staying up late brainstorming and feeding his insomnia. But he couldn't sleep now if he tried. He wondered if Lillian was awake. Probably not, it was 1 o'clock in the morning. He decided to text her anyway. If she wasn't awake now, hopefully it would make her smile in the morning. He took a picture of himself with his sexy face and sent it, saying "I'm still not tired". A moment later, he got a text back from her. It read:

"I think there's someone in my house."

Tony didn't know how to react to this. Was it some kind of game, or did she have somebody over? Or…worse?

"What do you mean?" he texted. The next few seconds felt like hours.

"Somebody broke in here. Help. I'm under the bed." A chill ran through Tony's body. He got up immediately and went to his workroom, putting on his Iron Man suit.

"JARVIS," he said, flying out the window. "Where does Lillian live?"

…

When Tony arrived at Lillian's house, he noticed the front door was wide open. His chest tightened and he wasted no time going in and looking for the intruder. He suddenly heard Lillian scream upstairs.

"Lillian?!" yelled Tony.

"Help!" she cried. He rushed upstairs and ran into her bedroom. There was Lillian in her bed, struggling against the criminal as he tried to pin her down. He looked up at Tony and his eyes widened as Tony raised his right hand.

"Get off of her," he commanded.

"Iron Man? Shit…"

"Get off of her!"

The man put his hands up and got off of Lillian and stood on the floor. Tony immediately grabbed the man by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"If you _ever_ come here again I swear to God I'll kill you," he said. "JARVIS, call the police and give them our location."

The police arrived and took the criminal away, and Tony retracted his mask as he came back upstairs to Lillian's room. She sat up in her bed, tears streaming down her face. Tony rushed to her and sat on the edge of her bed, gently putting his hand on the side of her face.

"Did he do anything; did he hurt you?" he asked. Lillian shook her head and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest.

"I know him," she said through tears. "He was a friend of my dad's." Tony took his helmet off and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"You're okay now," he said. His heart was beating so fast he felt weak all over. He held her tightly.

"My dad used to know some people in the mob," said Lillian. "He never really got involved with them, but he was friends with some of them. It always scared me because my dad is so gentle and sweet, and I was afraid they would do something to him. I guess that guy was watching me."

"He won't hurt you anymore," Tony reassured her. He stood up and took her with him. "I'm going to take you home with me. Hold on."

He carried Lillian downstairs and took off toward his house. When he arrived he took off his suit and led her to his bedroom. He lied her down on the bed and lied beside her.

"Thank you for saving me," she said. "I'm sorry you had to get out so late."

"Are you kidding me? Plus you know I couldn't sleep anyway." He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"My life is weird," she said. "I hope you know what you're getting into." Lillian put her hands on the sides of Tony's face and kissed him. It was a deep, lingering kiss and he put his hand on her lower back.

"It's okay," he said. "My life is weird too."


End file.
